Has Anyone Worked With Edible Images?
Decorating By daisyblue Updated 17 May 2007 , 4:59am by Jopalis
I was just wondering if there is anyone that has worked with edible images that would be able to give me a little advice on them. I have a cake that is due Friday & will be served at a party on Saturday. The customer wants an edible image so I went to a local bakery to have the image printed today (Tuesday). After I had the image printed & paid for, the lady was putting it in a bag & she asked when I would be making the cake. I told her Friday & it was to be served Saturday. She then sort of did the 'cringe' look. She said she would recommend I leave the image in the bag & when I got home, to put it in a gallon size ziplock bag because it would probably dry out & crack before then. She also said depending on what time I made it Friday, & what time it was served Saturday, that the color on the image could fade, especially since I had the image printed today. If she had told me all of this before it was printed I probably would have waited until Thursday to get it. Anyway, I was wondering if these horror stories were true & if there is anything else I can do to stop the drying/fading from happening? Also, after the cake is made, is it OK to put it in the fridge, or will that do something to the color of the image? Thanks!
One edible image I had done went very hard and brittle after about 2 weeks but it was OK up till then in the plastic bag..no fading noticed.
The other thing is that I put the edible image on gumpaste so it would harden as I wanted to stand it up on the cake...so an option would be to make some sort of gumpaste plaque and then put the edible image on that and lay the whole thing on the cake..
If you are nervous about fading, I would keep the bag out of the sunlight...not sure if that would help but it couldn't hurt...
HTH
Thanks JaneK! The lady at the bakery had me so paranoid about the pending disasters that I brought the image home, wrapped a plastic bag, put it in a gallon size ziplock bag, put it in a folder (so it wouldn't get bent or cracked), & put in a closet so it would be out of sunlight. Hopefull that'll keep anything from happening to it. Do you know if I can put the cake in the fridge after I put the image on it?
I have edible images I printed out 2 weeks ago. The color is fine. They are sealed in a plastic bag. I put my image in the freezer a few minutes before I put them on the cake, Makes them pop right off the sheet, and puts a little moisture back in it.
ive never heard of them fading unless there like in direct light. I worked in a bakery using lots of edible images, and they can dry out rather quickly, even a matter of hours if its exposed to the open air. The more dry they are the more brittle and harder to work with, i wouldnt kepp it in the freezer either, just a cool dry place. and a hint, when youre ready to apply it to the cake stick it in your freezer for like 30 sec to a minute, it will make it easier to pull off the backing. hope that helped
I have had lots of requests for edible images lately! I haven't noticed them drying out/cracking/fading but I only order them a day or two before I need them.
I have used them on crusting cream cheese and buttercream dream icing (both recipes from this site) and put the finished cakes in the fridge for 24 hours with no problems.
I have an image that I printed about a month or so ago. I changed my mind about using it when I had planned to. I just checked it and it's perfectly fine. The color hasn't faded and it looks as fresh as the day I printed it. The edges are also very easy to peel back. I remember when I purchased a couple of images from a cake supply store some time back. I asked how long it would last and was told 6 months as long as I kept it in a cool, dry location and it was securely sealed.
Ive used them also, with fondant/gumpaste plaques and directly on the cake. I dident notice it cracking or drying out. I would for sure keep it in a ziplock type of bag to try and keep the air out, I had mine sitting on my countertop for about a couple of days and it was fine. Just keep it in a airtight bag. Good luck!!! 
Hi, Daisyblue.
I am new a this cake stuff but I have done edible images because they are so easy.hahaha
I never put mine in the refrig. I left mine in the bag and just put it in a cool place.I had bought it a little to early but I didn't have any trouble with fading.I just took it out of the bag and put it on my cake and it looked nice I put a boarder around it and did some other things to the cake and it came out just fine.I have some photo's that you can look at and see what mine look like.
Hope I helped alittle bit,
Stacy
I have found that the colour fades on whipped icing like the kind from the grocery store. If it is sealed it will be fine. Don't put your cake in the freezer after you have applied your image it may sweat and ruin your image.
Bakery told me that I needed to apply it to BC. Said the moisture in the BC made the transfer "meld" with the cake.. How do you do it on gumpaste or fondant? Do you put something in between? I wanted to put it on IMBC but she told me it would ruin it so I did think about someting in between. Then what you lift it off before serving?
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